The FTSE 100 closed down 15.52 points at 7234.53 after a string of high profile earnings failed to impress investors this session.

Sainsbury's was down after it reported an 8 per cent fall in profit before tax, while ITV shares fell as it announced that chief executive Adam Crozier was stepping down from the board.

Over the pond the Federal Reserve meets, but no change in rates is expected. It is anticipated the Fed will raise rates twice more this year, once in June and then again in the final quarter.

Will Fed chair Janet Yellen have any surprises for us later on this evening?

Henry Croft, analyst at Accendo Markets, said: 'Global equity markets are offside this morning in the run up to the US Federal Reserve monetary policy update and the final televised debate of the French election campaign, both this evening, after European macroeconomic offerings failing to inspire.

'While the former is unlikely to result in a third rate hike in 6 months, it could provide insight into the potential course of hikes during the remainder of 2017; meanwhile the latter sees Le Pen and Macron square off for the final time before Sunday's second and final round of voting.'

Tanya Jefferies

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Alex Sebastian

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17:52

Sainsbury drags on Footsie

The FTSE 100 closed down 15.52 points at 7,234.53, with J Sainsbury the worst performing stock on the index after it fell 16p to 263.5p.

The supermarket revealed a drop in bottom line profits and warned over falling consumer confidence.

ITV shares slumped 3.7p to 207.8p after it announced that chief executive Adam Crozier would leave the company on June 30 after seven years, with a long-term successor to be revealed in due course.

Marks and Spencer Group shares dropped 4.3p to 366.5p on news that it poached Halfords chief executive Jill McDonald to run its embattled clothing arm. Halfords Group shares fell 9.8p to 365p.

Shares in Mitie Group leaped 19.9p to 231.3p despite the firm revealing it would take a £40million to £50million hit after a review of its books uncovered a 'number of material errors'.

JD Wetherspoon rose 30p to 1,040p after it reported that like-for-like sales jumped 4 per cent in the third quarter to April 23 this year, while total sales lifted by 1.3 per cent.

Shares in Galliford Try plunged 156p to 1,306p after the housebuilder said it would take a 'regrettable' £98million hit following a financial review of two major joint infrastructure projects.

The pound lost ground against the US dollar, falling more than 0.1 per cent to trade at around $1.291. Versus the euro, sterling was down around 0.1 per cent at €1.182.

That is despite data showing a rebound in construction output in April, which rose at its fastest rate so far this year amid a jump in house building and civil engineering activity.

On oil markets, Brent crude slumped 1.5 per cent to $50.36 a barrel, despite the American Petroleum Institute announcing a bigger-than-expected fall in US crude inventories.

The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Sage Group up 23.5p to 707p, Johnson Matthey up 89p to 3,097p, Micro Focus International up 48p to 2,660p, and Pearson up 11p to 656.5p.

The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were J Sainsbury down 16p to 263.5p, Paddy Power Betfair down 380p to 8,395p, Glencore down 11.05p to 286.8p, and Tesco down 6.25p to 176.75p.

17:24

City pundits on today's session

Joshua Mahony, market analyst at IG, said: 'The FTSE is continuing to drag lower, as traders prepare for what is likely to be an increasingly unpredictable and volatile end to the week.

'The underperformance of UK stocks compared with their US and European counterparts will have something to do with the sterling strength of late. This comes despite an increasingly fraught tone coming from the EU and UK leaders.

Regarding the latest Brexit spats, he said: 'It is clear that the powers that be in the EU are setting the groundwork for two years of confrontational and tense negotiations.

'Given the Canadian-EU trade deal took seven-years, it is starting to seem wholly unrealistic to expect a deal to be completed in two year’s time. To an extent, the outperformance of the pound amid such pessimistic tones out of the EU points towards a market that has factored in a hard Brexit.'

He added: 'Much of this week’s sterling strength has come thanks to the resurgence of the UK manufacturing and construction sectors, after the purchasing managers' index surveys blew away expectations of a continued slowdown in growth.

'With tomorrow’s services PMI reading up ahead, another outperformance could see the FTSE suffer at the hands of yet another strong day for the pound.'

'Stock market volatility remains close to the lowest ever and it’s hard to imagine the Federal Reserve meeting later today will change that.

'Stocks in France saw a modest decline in the run up to the second round of the presidential election on Sunday. Earnings growth at BNP Paribas spurred a move higher in French banks but solid profit growth at Germany’s VW weighed on Peugeot which has taken market share since Dieselgate.'

17:07

The FTSE 100 closed down 15.52 points at 7234.53

16:38

Macron and Le Pen to slug out tonight on French TV

The CAC40 in Paris has been treading water ahead of tonight’s final debate between the two French Presidential candidates Macron and Le Pen, with both looking to land a knockout blow.

Ultimately the election is Macron’s to lose ahead of the vote on Sunday. The polls say Macron has 60 per cent of the vote, with Marine Le Pen on 40 per cent.

15:36

What can investors expect from the Fed later this evening?

The Federal Reserve looks certain to leave rates on hold but it might hint at a slightly different pace of tightening.

Market pricing suggests just a 5 per cent chance of a hike today.

The question for the dollar and Treasuries is whether the Fed looks a tad more hawkish than it did in March, or a tad more dovish.

Recent data points to the latter as it will no doubt have to acknowledge the slowdown in quater one GDP. Just how much attention it pays to this number should help decide the market reaction.

15:08

Wall Street investors still thinking about Apple

US opened lower with under-cooked earnings from Apple, the world’s largest company by market value, still weighing heavily on investors minds.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 42 points, to 20,903.

14:52

Some detail on those Paddy Power Betfair results

Revenue was up 23% to £416m, or 15% in constant currency terms. The growth was driven by sports, with sportsbook stakes up 18%.

Underlying earnings were up 87% to £111m and underlying operating profit up 114% to £91m.

The Cheltenham Festival was a particular winner for the online bookie, with this year's event seeing 19 of the 28 races being profitable compared with just 11 races in 2016.

Chief executive Breon Corcoran said -

'Reversing the trend of the past two years, results at Cheltenham 2017 favoured bookmakers and this contributed to good revenue growth. Combined with the annualisation of merger-related cost savings and continued focus on operating efficiency, this resulted in a doubling of operating profits in the first quarter.

Since then, however, at high profile events such as the Grand National, Premier League football and the US Masters, results favoured customers, and overall gross win margins were weak in April.

A key strategic focus for 2017 is the integration of our technology platforms. This project is on track and we expect both our European brands to be operating on a common platform by the end of the year, at which point customers will start to benefit from increased pace of new product delivery.'

14:29

Taittinger makes history by becoming the first champagne house to plant vines in the UK and tap into the booming English sparkling wine industry

A renowned French champagne house today made history by becoming the first to plant vines in the UK and tap into the booming English sparkling wine industry.

Champagne Taittinger entered into a joint venture with UK wine agents Hatch Mansfield and bought up land in Chilham, Kent, to plant 40 hectares of vines over the next three years.

Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger, president of Champagne Taittinger, admitted he was so impressed by the quality of English sparkling wine that the family decided to start bottling their own.

The FTSE 100 has fallne, weighed down by weaker commodity stocks, while supermarket Sainsbury's dropped after an underwhelming earnings update.

Sainsbury's was among the biggest blue chip fallers, down 1.9 per cent, after the company reported a third straight year of underlying profit decline, despite the boost to earnings from last year's purchase of Argos, the general merchandise retailer.

Sainsbury's, which trails market leader Tesco in annual sales, cautioned that it saw no let-up in the intensely competitive UK market any time soon.

Meanwhile miners Glencore and BHP Billiton both dropped over 2 per cent, after copper prices fell as the dollar ticked higher on expectations the Federal Reserve will signal a June rate rise later in the session.

BP was the biggest drag to the index with a 0.9 per cent fall that following strong gains it made in the previous session following a better than expected earnings update.

Among the gainers was Direct Line, up 2.2 per cent, after the motor and home insurer reported a 4.2 percent rise in gross written premiums in the first quarter, boosted by strong performance in its auto business.

Equities were little moved by data showing growth in the country's construction industry accelerated in April, adding to tentative signs that the economy might be recovering a little momentum after a lacklustre start to 2017.

But Mitie outperformed, up 8 per cent, after the pest control company reported steady revenues and unveiled the results of a review of its accounts.

Construction group Galliford Try fell 9 per cent after the company warned on charges for construction business.

'Despite the political headwinds facing the Eurozone in 2017, it produced a decent GDP print for the first quarter at 0.5%. In contrast to the more tepid performance in the UK and US, the Eurozone’s performance does suggest that rest of the year is likely to be solid given the supportive PMI prints.'

'Despite some tightness in the German labour market, the relatively high level of unemployment for the Eurozone as a whole would indicate that there remains a significant amount of spare capacity, suggesting a period of above trend growth is possible.'

Yesterday Apple reported a surprise fall in iPhone sales for the second quarter as customers had held back purchases in anticipation of the 10th anniversary edition set to be revealed later this year.

Apple sold 50.76 million iPhones in its fiscal second quarter ended April 1, down from 51.19 million a year earlier.

Analysts on average had estimated iPhone sales of 52.27 million, according to financial data and analytics firm FactSet.

11:02

Top fallers include Sainsbury and M&S - company news driven

11:00

Top risers this session

10:44

Galliford Try shares plummet over 10 per cent

Galliford Try has been forced to set aside £98million to cover the costs of completing two major infrastructure jobs.

A trading update today said: 'A reappraisal of costs to complete and recoveries from two major infrastructure joint venture projects has substantially increased the anticipated liability to conclude the legacy contracts (contracted in 2014 and earlier) in the group’s construction business since Galliford Try reported its half year results on 21 February 2017.'

The group has set aside £98million to cover the costs with 80 per cent of that accounted for by the two problem jobs.

It added: 'One of these projects will finish on site in Summer 2017, while the other, which represents the larger proportion of the estimated non-recurring costs, is scheduled to complete in mid-2018.'

He said: 'It is a shock to see that she is leaving the ranks of FTSE 250 CEO’s to become the MD of Clothing & Beauty at M&S in the autumn, reporting to Steve Rowe!

'It goes without saying that there is nothing in her CV that would have implied that she was a candidate for this key position, although Steve Rowe himself insists that “Jill's first-class customer knowledge and great experience in running dynamic, high achieving teams make her exactly the right person to lead this all-important part of our business from recovery in to growth".

'Jill McDonald gushes "I have long been an M&S customer and professional fan, so working with the brand was a career opportunity that I just couldn't turn down”.

'It will be interesting to see how long she lasts at M&S.'

10:29

A decent summary of the state of play halfway through morning trading here

Chief market analyst at IG Chris Beauchamp -

'Markets are trading modestly lower this morning, as investors gear up for a busy few days. Apple’s earnings last night failed to inspire much enthusiasm, and the carousel of big events from today onwards means that it will be hard to muster up much risk appetite for the time being. Of course, we should not get too negative – markets, after all, climb a wall of worry, and nowhere is this clearer than the record high for the Nasdaq Composite. In a period of economic expansion, investors should be in stocks, so we can expect the steady inflow of funds to provide further long-term support for equity markets.'

'A day after the manufacturing PMI, sterling received a further boost from a positive construction PMI reading. The UK economy continues to surprise, but with GBP/USD having seen such a big move over the past month it is not surprising to see the rally requiring more effort to sustain it. With the ongoing ‘exit bill’ wrangles dominating the news, it is a sign that we have finally arrived in the Brexit negotiation period, which will, if nothing else, make life much more interesting for sterling traders.'

09:59

Construction data better than expected, but not everyone was impressed

'Although any PMI reading above 50 in theory signals expansion, it has had to exceed 53 in practice to be consistent with growth.

'The outlook for housebuilding is mixed; it will be supported by further falls in mortgage rates, the continuation of the Help to Buy equity loan scheme and a dearth of existing homes being put up for sale, but undermined by the squeeze on real wages.

'Meanwhile, commercial work likely will remain depressed by Brexit uncertainty, and labour shortages across the entire construction sector may become more acute as immigration from the EU declines.'

Hard man to please!!

09:45

Some reaction to those Sainsburys numbers

George Salmon, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown -

'One may not think that Argos and Sainsbury are the most natural of bedfellows, but the early signs are that for Argos at least, the partnership is working. Argos sales are on a much better trajectory since the chain came on board, with particularly impressive results from the Digital stores that have sprung up in Sainsbury’s vast superstores.'

'However, Sainsbury’s ‘bread and butter’ remains its bread and butter grocery business. Discounters like Aldi and Lidl are still making gains at the expense of the UK’s more established names, forcing prices downwards across the board. This may be great for the consumer, but it’s pretty ugly for the supermarkets.'

'Unlike its domestic rivals Tesco and Morrison, like-for-like sales at Sainsbury have remained stubbornly negative recently. Lower prices, weaker margins and a falling market share? Not a good combination.'

09:39

BREAKING: UK Construction PMI for April comes in at 53.1, above the expected 52

09:28

Much action expected after the closing bell today too

In focus today will be this evening’s Fed monetary policy update at 7pm, not for any rate change, rather the accompanying statement and what we can decipher of the outlook for further rate hikes.

Tonight also sees the TV debate between French Presidential candidates Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron at 8pm ahead of Sunday’s second and final round of voting.

Opinion polls still show Macron, 39, holding a strong lead of 20 points over the National Front's Le Pen with just four days to go to the final vote, in what is widely seen as France's most important election in decades.

Voters are choosing between Macron, a strongly Europe-minded ex-banker who wants to cut state regulations in the economy while protecting workers, and Le Pen, a eurosceptic who wants to ditch the euro currency and impose sharp curbs on immigration.

Macron finished only three points ahead of Le Pen in the first round on April 23, but he is widely expected now to pick the bulk of votes from the Socialists and the center-right whose candidates were eliminated.

Though Le Pen has a mountain to climb to catch Macron, the 2017 campaign for the Elysee has been packed with surprises, the exchanges between the two have become noticeably sharper and the 48-year-old National Front veteran has shown she is capable of catching him out with clever public relations maneuvering.

Macron warned he would not pull his punches in tonight's televised encounter against a rival whose policies he says are dangerous for France.

09:20

There's been plenty of musical chairs among top execs this session

Marks & Spencer has poached the chief executive of Halfords and put her in charge of shoring up its embattled clothing arm.

The high street store said Jill McDonald had been recruited into the new role of managing director for clothing, home and beauty, joining the retailer in the autumn of this year.

McDonald has previously worked at Colgate Palmolive and British Airways, where she became head of global marketing, before joining McDonald's in 2006.

She became UK chief executive and president for north west Europe for the fast food chain in 2010 - overseeing 3,300 restaurants in seven countries.

The 52-year-old, who is mother to two teenage boys, was made chief executive of Halfords in May 2015.

The latest move will see Ms McDonald take over the responsibility of running of M&S's clothing division from chief executive Steve Rowe

He has remained in charge of the operation since his promotion to the top job in April last year, but will now focus on the overall group.

London still attracting the world's top energy firms - Kuwait Energy seeks premium listing on LSE

Oil and gas firm Kuwait Energy is seeking a premium listing on the London Stock Exchange in a bid to fund growth across the Middle East and North Africa.

The company, with assets across Oman, Egypt, Iraq and Yemen, said the IPO is expected to raise $150million.

It will apply for admission in June, hoping to achieve a sufficient free float to meet the eligibility requirements for a premium listing.

Chief Executive Sara Akbar described the London Stock Exchange as a 'natural home for Kuwait Energy' and stressed its 'track record of operational delivery in the MENA region' which is expected to provide 'a stable platform from which to take the company to the next level of growth.'

The London Stock Exchange is targeting more listings from companies in the Middle East, following a dearth of initial public offerings in the aftermath of Britain's vote to leave the European Union.

The LSE has been promoting itself through events in the region, with natural resources seen as a key sector for IPOs.

Its biggest prize would be the upcoming listing of energy giant Saudi Aramco which has yet to decide where to float.

Kuwait City with its iconic 'Liberation Tower'

08:59

Big news of the morning sees ITV chief Adam Cozier step down

The former Football Association and Post Office head has stepped down after seven years at the hem of ITV.

The group, home to shows such as Britain's Got Talent and Broadchurch, said Crozier will leave the company on June 30, with a long-term successor to be revealed 'in due course'.

ITV chairman Sir Peter Bazalgette will take on the role of executive chairman, while Ian Griffiths will become the combined chief operating officer and group finance director.

In a statement, Sir Peter said: 'Adam has been talking to me and the board for some time now about his future plans.

'He has made a fantastic contribution to ITV and the board is deeply indebted to him for his strong leadership and personal dedication in very successfully turning around the business and building a more global and diversified organisation with real scale in key creative markets around the world.'

08:26

Loads of earnings for investors and traders to digest - here goes

Supermarket Sainsbury's reported a third straight year of underlying profit decline, despite the boost to earnings from last year's purchase of Argos, the general merchandise retailer.

Sainsbury's, which trails market leader Tesco in annual sales, also cautioned that it saw no let-up in the intensely competitive UK market any time soon.

Meanwhile bookmaker friendly results at this year’s Cheltenham Festival has led to strong first quarter growth at Paddy Power Betfair, the FTSE 100 betting group.

Direct Line Insurance Group reported a 4.2 per cent rise in gross written premiums in the first quarter, boosted by strong performance in its auto business.

JD Wetherspoon warned of 'significantly higher' costs in the second half of the year and said it remained cautious, while reporting quarterly comparable sales growth of 4 per cent.

Tobacco company Imperial Brands reported lower half-year revenue and profit on Wednesday, excluding a benefit from the weak pound, as it was hurt by an industry slowdown and an investment programme.